AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Environment South Beach Meeting

Anyone else go that's able to give a non-bias account of the meeting.

Thank you P.J. for the report but clearly your assessment is very bias.

I think you'll find that it's pretty factual, though I've obviously left bits out. I'm only "biased" as you call it because I think I know what's going on here, I've seen it before and have been involved in it, and I don't like it.

But let's see what others say.

it sounded identical to any other EIA meeting i have been to.

It's a well know fact it's easier and usually advantageous to ask forgiveness than permission.

developers have learned that an EIA is only a minor inconvenience to their progress. they are more infomercial than anything. and they can now check that one off their list and move on.
they have learned that a good way to combat opposition is to recruit supporters, always young, easily influenced teenagers who use the mantra of 'we want jobs' as a trump all.
no matter how much opposition they received, no matter how much boo'ing, shouting, rock throwing, negativity went on, their press release will say it was a glowing success with nothing but favorable support for their project.
i got 5 bucks to back it up!

I'm with you on that barn, a formality the developers go through.
I would like to help with something I keep hearing over and over with the dredging. The low silt dredging is a joke. Its put forth as if its OK if it doesn't silt. Thats sort of like I wont make a bloody mess when I cut off your nose so it will be OK. Your nose is still going to be gone!
The seabed breaks the force of damaging waves approaching the island remove it and the island get the impact of the destructive wave.Three elements stop the island from washing away. The reef, the sea bed and the beach. Poison the reef , dredge the sea bed, destroy the beach with a sea wall and watch the island erode away.

yes but,, i am sure if you were to mention that at the meeting they would have cleared that all up for you and told you how they are using the best methods known to man to prevent any damage.
next question,,,,

edit: these things are a complete waste of time. no issues are addressed other than to make the project shine.
someone claims possible damage, the developer sez no. and they move on,,,

and can anyone point to a project that was denied? ever? EVER?

So what happens next?

How long before the approval or denial is announced?

BNU, Peter is correct about the meeting. I went in with a completely open mind but Pepe Garcia (Consultant who did the EIA, paid for by Mr. Pierce) left a bad taste in my mouth. I had a chance to read a bit of the written assessment before the meeting and can say that Mr. Garcia downplayed the severity of the project, couldn't answer serious questions, and talked in circles when he had no idea what was going on.
ie: solid waste issue - talked for about 10 minutes on San Pedros problems and never actually had a concrete plan for South Beach. also downplayed the dredging. He mentioned they are taking 1 million cubic yard of sand from a burrow pit and dredge 4 feet. The actual written number is 1.362 million cubic yards from 105 acre spot of ocean floor 2.5 miles south of the island and will dredge up to 8 feet deep. He basically said it is up to the government to collect fees and monitor how much he is taking but we all know how that goes.

I encourage anyone who has any questions, concerns or opposes or is for South Beach to write envirodept@btl.net because NOTHING was accomplished at the 3.5hour meeting.

Yes, the dredging. Leaving aside whether what Garcia said was correct (and I'm pretty sure it wasn't) he described the area to be dredged as having four or five feet of sand, and needing to provide a million cubic yards. Given that all the sand cannot be taken (a physical impossibility) let's assume that they take down to depth of one yard. That means they have to dredge from an area of a million square yards, or 1000 yards square. That's 2/3 mile! Hardly the discrete "hole" Garcia so glibly referred to. And as Elbert refers to above, if that amount of sand is removed from just behind the island what effect is that going to have on water currents, waves, and land erosion? A pretty drastic effect, I should have thought.

Please people, as JZB says we MUST oppose this blatantly commercial undertaking, and the correct route is the email address she gave.